Teachers resign in droves

CAPE TOWN - More than 400 teachers nationally resigned in the first quarter of this year alone, but the Department of Education says it's not too concerned.

On Friday Parliament was briefed on the department's performance for the first quarter.

While the focus remained largely on department-led objectives - including the expansion of resource materials, and national school improvement initiatives - the portfolio committee raised questions about why so many teachers were leaving the profession so early on in the school year.

The department justified this as educators seeking "greener pastures".

“The figure is 459 teachers that have resigned. There is no reason for us to worry about this, because this is the first term. What normally happens in the first term is you will have teachers who will be offered job opportunities in private schools. And they would leave public schooling to move over to private schooling, and that’s the pattern we normally see in the first term,” said Department of Basic Education's Simon Geyer.